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Topic: NFL Pre-Season Thread (Read 2391 times)

HOF Game is coming Thursday and then the pre-season starts officially on 9/9 I believe.

Which battles are you looking forward to for your teams? Any deep roster players you're keeping an eye on who may surprise?

Injuries are already piling up with CB Jason Verrett of the Chargers out for the year and now Packers ILB Jake Ryan was carted off the field with a knee injury and is likely out for the year (had to get the annual GB injury outta the way!)

New England PatriotsBattles#1: Defensive Backs. There's a lot of depth chart battling to be had at the 5th-8th spots and I'm mainly keeping an eye on UDFA J.C. Jackson who's been getting 1st Team reps and has been tearing it up. Eddie Pleasant's been a mainstay with the Houston Texans and Jonathan Jones has been a feature on ST too. This may be a make/break year for Cyrus Jones and he'll have competition with Duke Dawson, Jordan Richards, Keion Crossen, and Damarius Travis.

#2: Running Backs. The competition for the 3rd/4th RB roles will be fierce with Michel probably being a lead candidate but after him are Gillislee (who found himself in a doghouse last year), Jeremy Hill (over from Cincinnati), and Ralph Webb (UDFA with talent). Brandon Bolden as per usual may stick around due to his ST ability but that's something that I've been saying year after year for the past 2-3 years it seems.

#3: 3rd Tight End. It seems like it's mainly down to Jacob Hollister/Will Tye in this battle but Ryan Izzo was pretty solid out of Florida State and could work himself onto the PS.

Patriots signed WR Eric Decker as expected after his Monday workout. Pretty solid value signing with Matthews gone, curious how he does since McDaniels drafted him in Denver but came into his own when Peyton arrived.

- Titans signed S Kenny Vaccaro after losing Jonathan Cyprien for the season.- Raiders waived K Giorgio Tavecchio. Reportedly the job is Eddy Piniero's to lose.- Jets signed DE Kendall Reyes. He missed 2017 but flashed early in his Chargers career with 5.5 and 5 Sack seasons in 2012 & 2013.- Giants signed CB Leonard Johnson, formerly of the Bills. Mainly a Slot CB, he can provide depth after the Sam Beal injury while also potentially offering up 45-60 Tackle upside if he starts.- Jaguars signed DT Sealver Siliga, formerly of the Buccaneers. A massive sized run stopper, he hasn't done much outside of 2013 & 2014 with New England. He's purely a depth rotation piece.

As we speak, I'm waking up in the DFW area and about to put on my Packers gear to go visit Cowboys Stadium.

You should really try to get to Lambeau sometime if you have never been there. That place is great.

I've never been to Dallas myself. Part of the problem is that the easiest time for me to go to Texas is in April right in the middle of tornado season in the southern mid-west.

Whatever it takes, do it. Lambeau is a special place.

Make sure to do the Packers Heritage Trail as well, which takes you around to the different historic sites and monuments. Green Bay is a fascinating place since the whole tourism industry is based around the Packers. It is kind of like going to place like Gettysburg except for football. Even Canton is nothing like it. In Canton, everything is mostly just centered around the actual Hall of Fame and stadium next door.

RB Sony Michel suffered a knee injury and will miss the entire preseason and maybe even the first few weeks of the regular season. Will be interesting to see how much he can contribute this season being a rookie + this being a complicated offense in general while not getting important reps in actual games.

Antonio Callaway got cited for marijuana possession in his car the same day the Browns sent Corey Coleman to the Bills for nothing. Callaway failed a drug test at the combine, now this. He'll be getting a suspension.

So apparently the Browns decided to keep Callaway in as long as they did in the pre-season game as a form of punishment for not notifying them about his troubles. Considering he got hurt because of this, anyone want to bet the union ain't too happy?

Colts RBs are dealing with several injuries so they signed RB Branden Oliver and waived WR Dres Anderson (a guy I was high on coming out but he's dealt with injuries and bounced around to various practice squads).

Eagles signed QB Christian Hackenberg to compete with Nate Sudfeld for the 3rd QB spot. Since he hasn't started any games, Hackenberg could be practice squad eligible.